ANNUAL REPORT, 1938 83 



Celery. The varietal improvement work with celery has been with the early 

 green type. Seed obtained from small growers in another section of the country 

 seemed to be well adapted to our soil, climate, and market. The most important 

 improvement needed in this strain is uniformity of height, and to obtain a more 

 uniform strain 75 single plant selections have been made. 



To test the desirability of this celery, which has been named Summer Pascal, 

 samples were sent to growers who asked for them. The results of these trials 

 have been very gratifying. Summer Pascal seems to be a celery that may be grown 

 early and late, can be bleached with paper, and gives the consumer celery of 

 pascal quality. It requires about two weeks longer than white celery to bleach. 

 It has very thick-meated stalks which are very smooth on the outside and bleach 

 to creamy white. Although improvements are not completed, samples will be 

 distributed for trial. 



Tomatoes. Although the Waltham Forcing Tomato has become the standard 

 variety for greenhouse use, attempts to improve it have continued. The use of 

 this strain as a trellis tomato was almost double what it was last year. Trellis 

 Tomato 22 sent out for trial has been well received by those who have had trouble 

 obtaining good-sized fruits from other strains of Comet. 



Breeding for the purpose of producing an earlier strain continued, and has 

 progressed to the point where one strain, named Early Trellis, will be released to 

 growers for trial in 1939. Early Trellis produced almost twice as much early 

 fruit as the best commercial strains of Comet. Tomatoes obtained in the first 

 three pickings are considered early fruit. 



In the variety trials this year, the percentage of No. 1 fruit varied from 25 for 

 Earliana and 38 for Marglobe to 70 for Waltham Forcing. The outstanding 

 feature of the Comet strains of tomatoes as compared with other varieties is the 

 high percentage of smooth No. 1 fruits produced. 



Rutabaga or Cape Turnips. Extensive trials of growers' and seedsmen's strains 

 of white and yellow rutabagas were conducted at the Field Station and in Bristol, 

 Plymouth, and Barnstable Counties. The White Cape rutabaga, developed on 

 Cape Cod, was superior to the best yellow when grown on the Cape and at the 

 Field Station. In the Plymouth County trials the White Cape strain was the best 

 white variety but two yellow varieties were just as desirable from the standpoint 

 of production. In the Bristol County trials there was not much difference between 

 the best white strain from Cape Cod and the best local strains; it was in this 

 trial that two yellow varieties, Laurentian and Long Island Improved, were so 

 uniform and free from side roots. 



At the Field Station five root selections made from White Cape last year were 

 tried. One of these selections was yellow in color but has the foliage and growth 

 of the White Cape; it will be of value to some growers who raise both white and 

 yellow. 



One half of each variety plot received borax at the rate of 15 pounds per acre, 

 and the other half was left for check, to determine varietal susceptibility to black 

 heart, the borax deficiency disease. Samples were taken from each plot for the 

 chemical studies on borax deficiency that are being carried on by the Department 

 of Chemistry, Amherst. Because of the rainy season, no black heart occurred in 

 any of the plots except on the Cape, where the percentage was less than 5, too 

 low to determine differences in varieties. 



Breeding work on rutabagas will be continued to develop locally adapted strains 

 of white and yellow types which are uniform in shape and free from side roots. 



Cucurbita Pepo. Most of the plants in this experiment were so severely dam- 

 aged by excessive rain and insects during the rainy period that very few mature 

 fruits were obtained, and the work will need to be repeated. One outstanding fact 



